HOW DOES THE MUSEUM OF NATURE ENRICH ITS COLLECTION?

UT continues to acquaint its readers with interesting exhibits of the capital museums. This time, the center of attraction turns the Tashkent Museum of Natural History and its exhibit Turan tiger in the Tugai section.

The State Museum of Nature of Uzbekistan is the oldest in Central Asia. It was founded on 12 July 1876 on the basis of the natural science collections of stuffed animals caught in various natural areas of Uzbekistan.

The nature of Uzbekistan is unique in that it represents all seasons, and almost all the landscapes that exist on the planet. In various regions of the country one can see harsh winter, blooming spring, hot summer and golden autumn, and also visit the mountain, desert or steppe areas.

One of the most exalted animals, bоth worldwide and in our country is a tiger. The Turan tiger lived in Uzbekistan until 1957. Predators with a bright yellow coat color with long black and brown stripes lived mostly in reed bushes along the river banks. Turan tigers ate mostly gazelles, antelopes, kulans, roe deer, and wild boars. Except those species the reeds were home for various birds, including gray heron, black-headed gull, herring gull, bittern, pheasants and many others.

Prince Golitsyn killed the last tiger in 1906 in the vicinity of Tashkent. A stuffed tiger killed by the Prince decorated the collection of the Tashkent Museum of Nature until 1970, when fire destroyed the museum collection.

Today, the Turan tiger is replaced by the stuffed Indian tiger, stored in the collection of the museum. An interesting story about this exhibit shared Sarvar Abdullayev, head of the scientific and educational department of the Tashkent Museum of Nature.

In 1966, Tashkent hosted talks between the Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and the Pakistani President Mohammad Ayub Khan. One of the representatives of the Indian delegation visited the Tashkent Zoo, where he saw a lonely Indian male tiger.

Later, after the conclusion of the Tashkent Declaration between India and Pakistan, for the settlement of the situation India as a friendly gesture sent to Tashkent the Indian female tiger.

Upon arrival, the tigress was delivered to the Tashkent Zoo. But, unfortunately, the tiger in the zoo, did not interested in the female friend, and did not want to accept her. When the mating season came, and the tigress again tried to approach the male, he killed her. It subsequently emerged that the male tiger suffered a groin hernia and could not create the future offspring. This was the reason for such aggressive behavior.

The Museum of Nature closely cooperates with the circus and the zoo. After the death of the animals, especially the unique and rare ones, they are transferred to the Tashkent Museum of Nature. This is a good practice because taxidermists, the specialists who create stuffed animals in their image, perpetuate the different subspecies, and show them to the children, adolescents and adults. Likewise, the Indian tiger got into the museum.

The uniqueness of this exhibit, in addition to the story, also considered the fact that a stuffed Indian tiger was created by the founder of monumental taxidermy M. A. Zaslavsky. He is the author of many monumental aids, textbooks and encyclopedias, which are still used to train modern taxidermists.

“This story shared me my father-in-law, who in the last century was the pathologist. He told many interesting stories and customs of the past. For example, asking him about how earlier little birds were treated, he said that every house had a place in the yard, which was thoroughly clean out, and then it was possible to scatter crumbs to feed the birds,” Sarvar Abdullayev told.

Once again, the customs of the Uzbek people show that people here live in harmony with nature and its inhabitants. And the Museum of Nature is a unique place worth to be visited.

Uzbekistan Today